Research note: inclusion of lablab in maize and sorghum silages improves sheep performance

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine intake and liveweight gain of sheep fed maize, sorghum, lablab-maize and lablab-sorghum silages (20 and 40% lablab) in a completely randomised design with 6 treatments. The maize and sorghum were mixed with lablab before ensiling and the silages were fed to sheep for 21 days. Silage intake increased with increase in legume inclusion level (P<0.05). Intake of maize-based silages was higher than that of sorghum-based silages. While sheep fed the straight cereal diets lost weight, liveweight change improved as the level of lablab inclusion increased (P<0.05). The fi ndings confi rm that legume inclusion with maize and sorghum forages when ensiling improves silage intake and enhances ruminant animal performance. Long-term feeding experiments using a combination of cereals and legumes with different ruminant species are required to validate these preliminary fi ndings.